3 and 12 day Itch
by TisTheEast
Summary: Mulder finds himself with the most dreaded disease of all...the chicken pox! AT LONG LAST CHAPTER 10 IS HERE!
1. Default Chapter

*Title: 3 and 1/2 Day Itch  
*Category: MSR, Angst, some humor too  
*Rating: PG13  
*Spoilers: Pilot, Ice, Our Town, Darkness Falls, Anasazi, Quagmire   
*Timeline: sometime after Quagmire but before the TalithaCumi/Herrenvolk cliffhanger   
*Thank you's: To Gabe for continually watching the X-Files dvd's with me and still not getting jealous/annoyed anytime I feel like randomly discussing the beauty that is Fox Mulder. To Joe for being my fanfiction buddy and always letting me toss ideas around no matter what hour of the night it is...maybe there'll be ice cream in this one too...uhmmm yeah did you get that memo?  
*Author's notes: In my last story (which I promise to finish soon!) I told my little tale of being a long time X-Files fan since 1993 so I won't bother you with that again. This is a quirky little idea I thought of once late night when I had a pretty bad feaver (granted not the chicken pox, but it'll do for inspiration). I hope you enjoy it!!   
*****Additional Note: I am starting an X-Files fanfiction page of my own in the very near future (so that's what I've been doing instead of writing they say). The address will be http://www.geocities.com/bohemian_songstress/index.html if you have trouble finding my updates on fanfiction.net please feel free to check my site (it should be up by August 6th) or email me at pandora1251@yahoo.com  
  
  
If Fox Mulder had been given his pick of the most horrible mutants he'd encountered over the years, he would've chosen any of them to his present assignment. As he and Dana Scully walked back to their basement office after a meeting with A.D. Skinner, Mulder was trying to decide if a prehistoric ice worm would been better than a town full of cannibals. It was almost as hard as trying to decide whether he was more frustrated at himself for falling alseep during a recent crop circle stakeout and repeating Scully's name in his sleep or at Skinner for bestowing such a wonderful new assignment on them.   
"Why me Scully?" Mulder asked his partner as they got on the elevator heading towards the basement of the FBI building.  
"It's one day Mulder, I'm sure you'll live," Scully answered patting him on the shoulder. "Besides, I'll be there to protect you."  
"Skinner hates me doesn't he?" Mulder muttered.  
"First of all," Scully said leaning against the wall of the elevator. "If he hates anyone, it's both of us, not just you. Secondly, I really don't think taking one day to speak to some elementary school kids is going to ruin any long term case plans we didn't have."  
"This is an assignment you send someone fresh out of the academy on," Mulder quipped as he opened the office door for Scully. "I think we definately have our hands full down here."  
"Well I think we're just going to have to deal with it," Scully said sitting down at Mulder's desk. "It can't be any worse than our last assignment."  
Mulder felt his heart skip a beat. 'Here it comes,' he thought and silently prayed that she wouldn't give him too much grief.  
"I don't think I've ever gotten more mosquito bites in my life," Scully said rolling up a sleeve to show her partner the small red welts up going up her arms. Mulder chuckled to himself remembering the mosquito bites Scully had obtained on their first case.  
"You really do have a habit of getting bitten," Mulder said smiling.  
"Yeah," Scully said wondering what private joke had her partner so amused. "And you never seem to get bitten even once. Do you have some secret stash of bug spray you're not telling me about?"  
"No, I'm just too sweet for bugs to bite," Mulder smirked.  
"You're too something, but I don't know if sweet is the word I'd use," muttered Scully.  
"Want to elaborate on that?" Mulder asked enjoying today's battle of wits with Scully more than usual. Noticing that she was scratching her arm he then said, "You know scratching's only going to make it worse."  
"I know," Scully sighed. "It's just an annoyance, like the second time I had the chicken pox."  
"You had the chicken pox twice?" Mulder asked in amazement.  
"Unfortunately, once when Bill had them and then again when Charlie had them," Scully replied trying to ignore her mosquito bites.  
"Wow," Mulder said. "I haven't even had them once. Should I be jealous?"  
To this Scully merely raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Not unless you have a thing for oatmeal baths."  
Mulder paused a moment to consider, "Nah, it sounds like you've had enough of that for both of us."  
*Stay Tuned for Chapter 2* 


	2. Mosquito Bites???

*Two Days Later*  
It was too quiet in Dana Scully's apartment. After the previous day of visiting an elementary school with Mulder to talk to children about the FBI and today's trip through the noisy bullpen in search of the maintainance man to turn the phone in the basement office back on, Scully had almost forgotten what silence was like. She had come home from work that afternoon intent on taking in a good book and perhapes a bubble bath, but as she had come to realize so often in the past few years, things never seem to go as planned.  
As she sat reading the newspaper, having decided that the novel she was currently reading was getting entirely too boring, Scully tried to decide what she felt like for dinner. Suddenly a small headline caught her eye: CHICKEN POX OUTBREAK AT LOCAL SCHOOL. Quickly skimming the article, Scully breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that the outbreak was not at the school she and Mulder had recently visited. After all, an itchy Fox Mulder was not something she'd wish on her worst enemy.   
Finally deciding on Chinese for dinner, Scully grabbed her purse and headed towards the door, pausing to turn on the television so she could check the weather on the six o'clock news. As she waited through some soda commercials, Scully laughed to herself remembering the group of six grade girls who asked Mulder for his autograph after their presentation at Brown Elementary. However, a knock at the door interupted her thoughts.  
"Hi," said Mulder as she opened the door. "I have a small mystery on my hands that requires your expertise."  
"Make it quick Mulder, I'm on my way to pick up dinner," answered Scully debating whether she should ask Mulder to join her.  
In response, Mulder rolled up his right sleeve and held out his arm to her.  
Raising an eyebrow at him, Scully replied, "My what lovely arms you have, now can we please get on to this so-called mystery of yours?"  
"I told you it's my hands," Mulder insisted a little more urgently. "Remember our mosquito bite conversation from the other day?"  
"How could I forget?" Scully answered dryly.  
"Well in your vast experience in this field of insect bitology," Mulder began knowing she would roll her eyes at the word he had just invented. "Do mosquito bites ever spread on their own after a few days?"  
"Definately not," Scully said grabbing Mulder's arm and catching sight of what looked like twenty or more small red bumps on his hand and arm. At the same time the reporter on television announced that the chicken pox epidemic was now at Brown Elementary. Scully stared at the television then looked back at Mulder's arm.  
Not knowing whether to laugh at Mulder or feel sorry for him, Scully took a deep breath.   
"You've got that look in your eyes," Mulder said quietly.   
"What look?" Scully asked still holding his arm.  
"That 'I'm going to try to prove him wrong and love every minute of it' look," Mulder replied enjoying her cool hands hands on his arm that was had been itching like hell the entire drive to her apartment.  
"Well I am going to prove you wrong Mulder," said Scully not wanting to get into which minutes she loved or hated when it came to her partner. "These aren't mosquito bites. You have the chicken pox."  
**Stayed tuned for Chapter 3** 


	3. Long Night Ahead

Fox Mulder stared at his partner in disbelief then began to laugh, "Nice one Scully! You almost had there for about 2 seconds."  
"But Mulder," Dana Scully began.  
"So is there something I can put on these things to make them stop itching or what?" Mulder asked. "You're the mosquito bite expert Scully, help me out here."  
Scully sighed, setting down her purse and taking off her coat. She could tell that by the time she got around to picking her dinner, it would be cold.   
"Take off your jacket and stay awhile okay?" Scully said leading him to a chair. As Mulder flopped down in the chair, Scully reached over to feel his forehead. She frowned, "You've got a feaver. That's one of the symptoms."  
"You just have your heat up too high," Mulder said shrugging away from her and turning his attention to the sportscaster on Scully's television as he scratched his stomach.  
"Mulder, this can be a very serious disease if it's not carefully monitered," Scully said gently putting her hand on his cheek. "How about I go get us some dinner and something to bring down your feaver?"  
Suddenly feeling increasingly itchy and sleepy, Mulder decided that there was no use arguing with her. "Alright, what are we having?"  
"Chinese," Scully replied pulling her coat on again.  
"Yummy," said Mulder itching his stomach more vigorously.  
"Try not to scratch, you'll make it worse," Scully said pointing a finger at him.   
"Yes mother," Mulder quipped continuing to itch as he turned his attention back to the tv.  
Scully sighed rolling her eyes. It was going to be a long night.  
**Stay Tuned For Chapter 4** 


	4. Pink liquid

A tall man cannot comfortably curl up into an arm chair. This was the conclusion Fox Mulder came to as he drifted in and out of sleep at his partner's house. Knowing Scully would probably shoot him for lounging all over her furniture, Mulder decided that the couch was definately more comfortable (and in better view of the tv) than the chair was. Once he was settled on the couch, Mulder suddenly became aware of exactly how itchy he was. Every inch of his body tingled and stung at the same time. Reaching around, he could feel what appeared to be hundreds of welts on his neck and upper back. However the middle of his back was the worst because he couldn't quite reach the exact spot that was bothering him. Mulder was so involved in trying to scratch his own back that he didn't notice Scully enter the apartment.  
"Don't do that," she exclaimed putting several bags down on her kitchen counter.   
"Don't do what?" Mulder asked innocently, his arms still stretched around himself.  
"I got something that should help the itching," Scully said hanging her coat and Mulder's up in the closet. "How're you feeling?"  
"Fine," Mulder said trying to ignore the the horrible itchy welts that felt like they were multipying.   
Raising an eyebrow at him Scully sat down next to him on the couch. She felt his forhead, "You're burning up."  
"And itching like hell," Mulder said trying not to sound too whiney but not suceeding.   
"Take off your shirt," Scully said setting one of her shopping bags on the coffee table.  
"You know I've dreamed of this moment for a long time Scully," Mulder mumbled as he lifted his sweater over his head.  
"Hold still," Scully said choosing to ignore her partner's most recent comment. She sighed as she caught sight of Mulder's chest, which was covered in red splotches.   
"What're you doing?" Mulder asked as Scully opened a bottle of pink fluid.  
"It's medicated lotion Mulder. It'll help with the itching."  
"It's pink," Mulder said in horror.  
"Yes it is," Scully replied. "I was going to get the clear kind but they were sold out of it."  
"I'm going to look like one of those marshmellow peeps you get at Easter," Mulder pouted.  
"Probably," said Scully putting some of the pink liquid on a cotton ball. "Now hold still."  
As soon as the pink stuff touched his skin, Mulder jumped about two feet practically spilling the bottle all over Scully.  
"Sorry," he whispered to Scully. "I didn't realize how cold it would be."  
"It's alright," Scully shrugged. "Now seriously hold still this time."  
Mulder complied trying not to think about the cold or the color of what Scully was putting all over his chest and back. Instead he concentrated on Scully and how kind she was being to him. After all, it wasn't every woman who would take care of him when he was sick and itchy, especially one who had to put up with him on a daily basis. Maybe it was the fever, or maybe delusions were a symptoms of the chicken pox that she hadn't yet informed him of, but Mulder suddenly decided that Scully must be what angels look like.   
"Scully," he said softly.  
"Hmm?" She said closing the dreaded pink bottle and walking over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.  
"You are the most beautiful woman in the world," he said as she turned the water on.  
"What'd you say Mulder?" asked Scully turning the sink off and drying her hands.  
"I said that you were wonderful and lovely and," Mulder was cut off by Scully fowning and feeling his forhead.   
"Sh," she said placing a cool washcloth on his forehead. "Maybe you should try to get some sleep."  
**Stay tuned for Chapter 5** 


	5. Handcuffs

Mulder awoke to unfamiliar surroundings; the first indiction of such was the realization that he was waking up in a bed and not on a couch. Looking around for a moment he quickly realized that he was in Scully' bedroom. Although the real question remained: how did he end up in Scully's bed? Mulder quickly remembered the previous night and its events as the red bumps all over his body began to itch again.  
He had been sleeping on Scully's couch for about three hours when he was awakened by her gentle hand on his shoulder.  
"Mulder," she had whispered softly. "Come on, it's 11:30. You can take my bed."  
"Where should I take it?" Mulder had mumbled half asleep and still very feverish.   
Wehn Scully, who chose to ignore the bed comment, had helped Mulder to his feet, she softly said, "If your fever doesn't go down tmorrow you're going to see a doctor."  
"But I can see you whenever I want. That's what I like about you Scully," Mulder had yawned in reply. He had then pointed to the blue silk pajamas she was wearing. "Why don't you ever wear that to work? It's the color of your eyes."  
Mulder couldn't remember what Scully's reply to that comment had been, only that she had helped him into her bed and then said goodnight as she was sauntering into the other room. Recalling anything else was useless as thinking seemed to make Mulder's itching worse.  
"Hey Scully," Mulder called out. "Can you get chicken pox on your brain?"  
"I didn't realize you were awake," said Scully entering her bedroom in jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt. "How are you feeling?"  
"Can we go camping?" Mulder asked wringing his hands to keep from ripping off every inch of itchy skin on his body.   
"Why?" asked a suddenly confused Scully. After all, since when were camping and Mulder's health parallel issues?  
"Because then we can meet up with some of those prehistoric green bugs that can devour my skin and end this living hell," Mulder growled no longer able to resist scratching his arms and chest.  
"You still have a fever," Scully declared feeling his forehead with one hand and grabbing both his hands with her other. "I'm going to go call a friend of mine who has a practice around here. I'm sure he could find some time today to see you."  
Letting go of his hands, Scully gave Mulder a look that he knew was saying not to scratch. While Scully was on the phone in the other room, Muldr decided to check out what was on tv. Settling on cartoons, Mulder stretched out in Scully's bed, which was decidedly roomier than his couch. As he began to wonder why Scully would need such a roomy bed, Mulder's left leg began to itch badly. Stretching to reach the itch made Mulder's back start to itch so he got the bright idea of rolling a bit to take care of his back.   
By the time Scully got back into the bedroom, Mulder looked like he was doing some sort of strange break dancing move.  
"My god Mulder," Scully exclaimed as she neared the bed. "Do I need to handcuff you to the bed?"  
"Why Agent Scully, I didn't know you were into those sorts of things," Mulder smirked weaked.   
Scully merely rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed next to him. "The doctor's office is supposed to call back in a few minutes and let me know when they can see you," she said leaning back and relaxing for a moment. Mulder continued to scratch until Scully took both his hands and held them firmly in her own.   
As Mulder turned his attention back to the tv, Scully let her mind drift. Even though Mulder was handful when he was sick, she really like having him there. Qeequag had been a (literally) short lived solution to the lonliness Scully felt when she was not working. As much as she protested on a given day, Scully really did enjoy working with Mulder no matter what kind of strange circumstances they found themselves in.  
"If you plucked a chicken, would it look like my arm?" Mulder wondered out loud.   
"No it would look like what's in my freezer right now," Scully replied having been jolting from her thoughts.  
"Then why do I have the chicken pox and not the red-itchy-bumps-pox or the Mulder-wants-to-skin-himself-pox?" Mulder asked squirming.  
"It comes from the Latin name for a similar disease that appeared in poultry," Scully replied tightening her grip on Mulder's hands. However she was forced to let go when the phone rang. As she rushed into the kitchen she called out, "Don't you dare start scratching again."  
Mulder nodded just for effect and then started scratching his right arm vigrously. He then became so involved in scratching his left arm and chest at the same time that he didn't notice Scully come back in the room.  
"Your doctor's appointment is in half an hour so..." she trailed off merely giving Mulder the patented look that he swore could hault UFO in mid-air.   
For his part, Mulder smiled sweetly and held his hands in front of him. "Scully, cuff me."  
**Stay Tuned For Chapter 6** 


	6. Doctors

"Will I have to get a shot?"  
"I'm not sure Mulder," replied Scully who was flipping through a magazine in the small waiting room of the docotor's office.  
Mulder leaned in close and whispered, "Will you hold my hand if I do?"  
"Dana Scully, it's been way too long," exclaimed Dr. Elijah Masterson entering the waiting. "How've you been?"  
"I've been doing well, and you?" replied Scully rising to give her friend a hug.  
"Business is booming as always," laughed Elijah. "You know Dana, if you ever get sick of the FBI, we could use you here."  
Instantly Mulder felt as if a million fire alarms were going off in his head, and they had nothing to do with the chicken pox. He stood up and drifted towards Scully trying not to look too much like he was defending his terf.   
"This must be your partner who's got the chicken pox," said Elijah catching sight of Mulder.  
"Could you tell?" Mulder asked dryly as he tried to itch his arm through his leather jacket.   
"Well let's take you back and see what I can do for you," replied Elijah energetically. As he followed the doctor towards the exam rooms Mulder turned back to Scully and gave her a huge goofy grin in mock enthusiasm.   
In reply Scully raised her eyebrow at him and said just loud enough for Mulder to hear, "Behave yourself."  
Fifteen minutes later Mulder came back into the waiting room sulking. "They had to drawn blood."  
"I'm sorry," replied Scully smoothing his hair out of his eyes as it were the most natural gesture in the world. "Did he say anything else?"  
"That you were a great girl and you're wasting your talents in FBI," pouted Mulder.  
"I meant about your chicken pox," sighed Scully not sure whether Mulder's obvious jealousy was frustrating or cute.  
"He said he was going to give me a prescription to keep the fever down," said Mulder wondering how Scully knew Dr. Elijah.  
As if on cue, the doctor came back into the room handing Scully a small slip of paper. "This will help keep his fever down," he said. "The chicken pox are middle of the road as far as severity so as long as his fever doesn't get really bad and he doesn't scratch too much, there's no chance of other infection."  
"Thanks so much Elijah," Scully said smiling.  
"It's no problem Dana," replied the doctor. "I hope we can get together sometime and catch up, but your partner was telling me how busy your schedule is."  
"I'm sure I could find a spare minute for you," Scully said shooting a glare towards Mulder.  
Once they were in the car on the way to the drug store Scully said, "So tell me about this busy schedule of ours Mulder."  
"I'm sick and you can't prove anything," Mulder replied with pouty grin. Scully smiled but said nothing more, and Mulder felt himself getting sleepy.   
As they pulled into the drug store's parking lot, Scully said, "I'll just run this in and be right back."  
Mulder nodded as Scully excited the car, watching her as she went. Feeling his eyelids getting heavier by the minute, Mulder decided to close his eyes for a while. He barely even noticed Scully getting back into the car.  
"Do you want anything else while we're out?" she asked trying to think about how adorable Mulder looked when he was sleeping.  
"Ice cream and some new skin," Mulder mumbled shifting in his seat.  
"Ice cream I can do," replied Scully.  
Half and hour later Mulder was lounging in Scully's bed enjoying a large bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream and watching cartoons. "You know Scully I could get used to this," Mulder remarked.  
Scully raised an eyebrow at him.  
"Well not so much the itching," Mulder said squirming. "But the ice cream and cartoons I can do."  
"You mean the being waited on and lounging around in my bed all day?" Scully asked easing down into a chair next to the bed with her own bowl of ice cream.   
"Welcome to my hell," Mulder replied winking at her and patting the spot next to him on the bed.   
**Stay Tuned For Chapter 7** 


	7. Alex

"Did I tell you who I saw at the drug store?" asked Scully taking Mulder's empty ice cream bowl and placing it with hers in the kitchen.   
"Who?" Mulder asked once she had come back into the bedroom.   
"Alex Houston," replied Scully feeling Mulder's forehead.  
Mulder looked at her questioningly.   
"Don't tell me you've forgotten already Mulder," smiled Scully, pleased that his temperature had returned to normal.  
"Was he that kid that kept me if he could send letters to aliens like his little sister did to Santa Claus?" Mulder asked while channel surfing at an extremely rapid pace.  
"The very same," Scully said grabbing the remote from him.   
"Hey, I was watching that," whined Mulder.  
"Then what show was?" asked Scully standing in front of the tv.  
"Baywatch?" Mulder said hopefully.  
Scully merely sighed and stepped away from the television to reveal that the show was, in fact, Baywatch. "Well if you're going to watch this, then I'm going to go read in the living room," she said heading for her glasses which were sitting on the nightstand.  
"We can watch something else," Mulder replied quickly changing the channel.  
"It's not a big deal Mulder, you can watch whatever you want," Scully said nonchalantly.  
"But I want you to stay here with me," Mulder said softly giving her a sad look.  
"Alright," Scully sighed wondering if Mulder knew that giving her that sad puppy look would always work.  
"So what do you want to watch?" Mulder asked delighted that once again Scully had fallen for the sad puppy eyes.  
"I'm not sure," Scully said easing onto the bed next to Mulder.  
Mulder began channel surfing again, this time more slowly so that he and Scully could actually figure out what was on each channel. Suddenly John Trevolta appeared on the television set dancing to disco music.  
"It's Saturday Night Fever!" exclaimed Mulder instantly recognizing the movie.  
"I haven't seen this in ages," laughed Scully. "The music is so cheesy."  
"Are you kidding me Scully," Mulder said attempting to strike the famous disco pose. "Disco will live again."  
"Mulder will you ever cease to amaze me," Scully asked smiling. For his part, Mulder was delighted that he made Scully smile.  
"I don't plan on it," Mulder replied as he changed the channel. "Ooh what about Gilligan's Island?"  
Scully shrugged, "Alright."  
They watched in silence for a while until Scully noticed Mulder's arm. "It looks like you're getting scabs."  
"Is that bad?" Mulder asked not in the mood to make a return visit to doctor Elijah.  
"No, that means you're getting better," Scully replied.   
"That's because I've had the best doctor in the world," Mulder said. he quickly added, "And I don't mean that Elliot guy."  
"His name is Elijah," Scully replied hoping she wasn't blushing.  
"So what's the deal with you guys anyways?" Mulder asked trying to be casual.  
"Mulder, if I didn't know you better, I'd sware that you were jealous," Scully said almost hoping that he was jealous even though there was nothing for him to be envious of. "But since I know you're not, Elijah is an friend from med school who I run into from time to time around the city when I'm not busy chasing the unexplained with you."  
Satisfied with that answer Mulder decided to switch topics, "So what did our little friend Alex have to say for himself?"  
"He wanted to know where you were," replied Scully stretching out on her side. "And if aliens can get the chicken pox."  
"That is a very good question," Mulder said thoughtfully.   
Alex Housten had definately been the most entertaining aspect of their recent trip to Brown Elementary. He had come up and introduced himself to Mulder who was bored out of his mind and trying to make an orgami crane for Scully out of one the brightly color info-sheets that Skinner had sent with them. Alex, a fifth grader told Mulder that he had read about him in a magazine about UFO's and that he wanted to find aliens just like Mulder when he grew up. For the rest of the day, he and Mulder traded conspiracy theories while Scully had listened, intrigued that the boy could probably hold his own with the Lone Gunmen.   
Suddenly it occurred to Mulder that he hadn't heard from the Gunmen in over two weeks. They were probably mad at him for not going to see the latest spy movie with them, but Mulder was sure they would be understanding once they found out about his little adventure with the chicken pox.   
"So what did you tell Alex?" Mulder asked interested to hear what Scully's reply had been.   
"I told him that you were resting and that if we found an alien, we'd ask it about the chicken pox," yawned Scully finding herself sinking more and more towards sleep.  
"You know what I want to know," Mulder said glancing once more at the tv.  
"What?" mummered Scully closing her eyes.  
"Why is it that the Professor can build a working radio out of cocomuts, but not a raft to get them off the damned island?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't know Mulder," Scully mummered half asleep. Mulder looked over at her and smiled at how peaceful she looked. For a few seconds he almost wished that his chicken pox would stick around longer, if only so that he could have Scully run her hands through his hair as she had done earlier that day. All the itching in the world would be worth it.   
As Mulder reached over to brush a strand of hair off Scully's face, his private moment was interupted by a pounding at the door.   
**Stayed Tuned for Chapter 8** 


	8. Video Games

"Maybe if I ignore you, you'll go away," Mulder muttered at whoever was currently pounding on Scully's door. However when the pounding continued, Mulder opted to answer the door himself rather than waking Scully who was dozing next to him. As Mulder neared the door, he could hear three voices on the other side.   
  
"Quit pounding so hard," the first voice said.  
  
"Yeah Scully's going to be pretty pissed if you put a hole in her front door," said the second voice.  
  
"Well she's going to be even more mad when she finds out that Mulder's missing. Plus she's so cute when she's angry," quipped the third voice.  
  
Mulder immediately recognized who the owners of all three voices were and opened the door to find Byers, Langly and Frohike standing in the Scully's hallway.   
  
"Sorry, Scully already has a vaccum cleaner," Mulder said trying to close the door.  
  
"Wow nice house," Frohike said pushing his way into Scully's living room.  
  
"See I told you that he wasn't missing," Byers muttered.  
  
"Well you can never be too careful when you work for the Feds," Langly quipped in response.  
  
"Uhm do you guys want to keep it down a bit?" Mulder said shutting the door behind them.  
  
"You think someone's listening?" Langly said looking around the living room.  
  
"Why are you answering the door at Scully apartment anyway Mulder?" Byers asked.  
  
"Maybe Scully's missing," Frohike said frowning.  
  
"Scully's asleep and I'd appreciate it if she wasn't woken up by all of this noise," Mulder said hoping the Gunmen would try to contain themselves.   
  
"So you just hang around Scully's apartment while she sleeps?" Langly asked looking from Mulder to Frohike as if he was trying to decide which one had the bigger crush.  
  
"No," sighed Mulder. "I have the chicken pox, and Scully's been taking care of me all weekend. She just fell asleep watching Gilligan's island."  
  
"That doesn't surprise me," Byers said. "That show is so predictable."  
  
"So Mulder, how'd you manage to fake Scully into thinking you have the chicken pox. I mean she is a doctor," Langly said.   
  
"No guys I really have the chicken pox. See," Mulder said lifting his shirt up.  
  
"Ewwww," all three Gunmen echoed peering at the red welts on Mulder's chest.  
  
"Dude you need provisions," Frohike said as the other Gunmen nodded. "We'll be right back." Mulder settled back onto Scully's couch and waited for the Lone Gunmen to return, wondering what they had scurried off to find.   
  
An hour later Scully awoke wondering where Mulder had gotten off to. No doubt he was in the living room scratching to his heart's content. As she made her way into the living room, Scully could hear rock music, electronic noises, and lots of talking. This meant only on thing: the Lone Gunmen were in her apartment.   
  
"Good evening sleeping beauty," Mulder said to Scully who was leaning against her bedroom door.   
  
Scully merely raised an eyebrow at Mulder who was seated on the floor playing some sort of video game with Langly while Byers and Frohike looked on. Knowing he was probably in trouble, Mulder tossed his controller to Frohike and sauntered over to Scully.  
  
"I fall asleep for a few minutes and you're having a party," Scully said.   
  
"They just showed up here pounding on the door and I didn't want them to wake you up so I invited them in," Mulder said giving her a lopsided grin. "But you see Scully, it's great because now I have something to distract me from scratching."  
  
In repsonse to Mulder's statement, all three Gunmen turned to Scully and waved as if to take credit for some great idea.  
  
"You'll love this, trust me," Mulder said taking Scully's hand and leading her over to the couch. He sat her down between Byers and Frohike, who offered her a controller.  
  
"What am I doing?" Scully said staring at the screen.  
  
"Don't tell me you've never played this game before," Frohike exclaimed.  
  
"What is this?" Scully asked still confused.  
  
"Only the greatest in video game technology," Langly replied.  
  
"Take it off pause," Byers offered trying to helpful.  
  
"Alright, uh, which button is that?" Scully said trying not to laugh. Never did she imagine that she'd spending a Saturday night playing video games with Mulder and the Lone Gunmen.   
  
"Frohike move over," Mulder said moving to sit next to Scully. After a brief moment of rearranging on Scully small couch, Byers moved over to the arm chair and Scully was now left sandwiched between Mulder and Frohike.   
  
"Ok the guy in red in Langly's guy and the one in blue is yours. Basically all you have to do is press some random patterns of buttons to make your guy do better jump tricks than Langly's," Mulder coached.  
  
"And make sure he doesn't fall off the skateboard," Frohike chimed in right as Scully's character fell off his skateboard.  
  
"That looked a bit painful," Scully said of the way the little person on the screen landed when he fell off his skateboard.  
  
"Don't worry," Langly quipped. "He didn't feel a thing."  
  
"Mulder why can't my guy do that jumpy thing that Frohike's doing?" exclaimed Scully an hour later.   
  
"You need to get higher points for that one," replied Langly who had traded seats with Frohike.   
  
"If she could just make that one jump over the pipe," Byers said to Mulder who nodded.  
  
Suddenly Langly's watch began beeping.   
  
"Oooh afraid we'll have to be heading out," Langly said. "Time for that online interview world famous conspiracy theorist David Pierce."  
  
Mulder chuckled inwardly as Scully looked very disappointed to be torn away from her game. They both got up and walked the Gumen to the door.  
  
"Keep the game for a while," Frohike said to Mulder. He turned to Scully, "Satruday night is strip video game night, want to join us next week?"  
  
"In your dreams Melvin," Mulder answered as Scully merely raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Well you two behave yourselves," Frohike replied as Mulder shut the door. 


	9. My Girl

Author's Note: for my more faithful readers, pay close attention to this chapter because something in here will reappear in my next story (it's on the way very very soon)  
  
  
"Sorry about that," Mulder said after the door was shut. He absently scratched his arm waiting for Scully's annoyed reply.   
  
"It's no big deal," Scully shrugged to Mulder's surprise.  
  
"You're sure you're not mad that they just showed up and invaded your house for a good 2 and a half hours," Mulder asked still scratching his arm.  
  
"I'm sure," Scully said swatting at his hand.   
  
"You just want to play that game some more don't you," asked Mulder wishing he could copy Scully's patented raised eyebrow look.  
  
"Oh give me a break," Scully said sauntering back to the couch. "Now take your shirt off."  
  
"Oh twice in one weekend," Mulder laughed plopping down next to her on the couch. "But before I do, how about another round of skateboarding?"  
  
"Mulder, I need to make sure that the scabs are healing" Scully said giving him the patented look.  
  
"We can take care of that later," Mulder said winking at her. He tossed Scully a video game controller. "Come on, let's play."  
  
"Fine, you can play for a while," said Scully suddenly feeling like she was talking to a three year old. "But I'm going to go in the other room and read."  
  
With that Scully handed the controller back to Mulder who gave her a sad look and went into her bedroom. She had no sooner gotten comfortable with her book when she could hear Mulder starting up the game.   
  
"Hey Scully," he called from the other room above the noise of the game.  
  
"What Mulder?" Scully sighed in response sinking into her pillow.  
  
"It's kind of lonely out here and I hate being alone when I'm sick," Mulder whined.  
  
Scully laughed to herself. She could almost picture Mulder sitting there making that sad puppy dog face to the television. Sometimes he could be so annoying cute, it was almost too much to stand.  
  
"Alright Mulder," Scully sighed coming back into the living room and sitting down beside him. "But we're not playing this damned thing all night."  
  
"Deal," Mulder said happily handing Scully a controller.   
  
If there is anything more fun than actually playing a video game, it has to be watching someone who is not used to video games try to play them. This idea proved to be very true in Mulder's case that evening.  
  
"Oh my God, why won't you just do the flip?" Scully said exasperated to the little skateboarder on the screen who had just fallen for the 80th time of that round.  
  
"Having a little trouble?" Mulder asked trying not to laugh as his character executed a perfect combination of jumps and flips.  
  
"I don't understand why he falls everytime I try to do one of those tricks," Scully said getting increasingly frustrated.  
  
"Well Dr. Scully, let's discuss gravity," Mulder said leaning back on the couch. "What goes up must come down, and when our little friend here comes down he needs to be on his board and not on his face."  
  
The only response Mulder received was an icy glare.  
  
"Ok so maybe you've had enough for tonight?" Mulder asked.  
  
Scully nodded putting her controller down and picking up her book. Mulder turned off the game and began channel surfing.   
  
"Am I bothering you?" he asked looking over at Scully who was engrossed in her book.  
  
"Nope," Scully replied not looking up from her book.   
  
Mulder finally decided on a channel that was showing some old footage from the Ed Sullivan show. As soon as one note was played, he instantly recognized what song was going to be next.  
  
"I've got sunshine on a cloudy day," Mulder sang along with the tv. Scully looked up from her book intrigued. A wide smile spread across Scully's face as Mulder continued to sing.  
  
"When it's cold outside I've got the month of May," Mulder crooned along with the Temptations. He jumped up from the couch and extended his hand to Scully.  
  
"Mulder what," she began as he pulled up from the couch.   
  
"Shhhhh," he said gently pulling her into his arms. For her part, Scully was confused but not about to protest. There was something about being in Mulder's arms that was so comforting, so familiar. "Well I guess you'd say what can make me feel this way, my girl."  
**Stayed Tuned for Chapter 10*** 


	10. Gilligan Theories

On any typical morning, it would take at least one cup of coffee to make Scully able to talk, let alone smile. However, today was no ordinary morning. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of Mulder standing over her, holding a cup of coffee and smiling.  
  
"Guess what?" Mulder said handing her the cup of coffee.  
  
"What?" she yawned stretching.  
  
"I figured out why they couldn't get off the island," Mulder said excitedly.  
  
"Huh?" Scully as she began to sip her coffee.  
  
"Alien Scully," Mulder said plopping down next to her on the bed. "Not all of them of course, maybe only Gilligan."  
  
Scully merely raised an eyebrow at him and continued to sip her coffee.  
  
"He needed to keep them there to further observe human behavior so he pretended to be a bumbling idiot that way no one would be suspious when all the professor's inventions got destroyed thus preventing them from leaving the island," Mulder babbled excitedly.  
  
"What about the natives and the monkies?" Scully asked thoughtfully wondering where Mulder had hidden Langly, Byers and Frohike (because this theory had a distinct Lone Gunman feel to it).   
  
"Mind control," Mulder answered trying to sound intense.  
  
"Are you sure the fever's not back?" she laughed gently brushing the hair off his forhead with one hand.   
  
"Scout's honor," Mulder replied raising one hand and placing the other on his heart.  
  
In response, Scully laughed, and that laugh was like music to Mulder's ears. He wished that he could make her laugh like that at least once everyday, if only for the way her blue eyes sparkled like some sort of precious gem. If only he could make her eyes sparkle like that just for him, he would be the happiest man on earth.   
  
"What?" Scully said letting her hand linger on his face for a moment.  
  
"What?" Mulder replied snapping out of his daydream.  
  
"I asked you first," Scully laughed.  
  
"Nevermind," Mulder said quickly. "So what do you want for breakfast?"  
  
Now it was Scully's turn to be confused. "Mulder are you offering to cook for me?"  
  
"I don't really know if cook would be the word I'd use to describe it," Mulder began sheepishly. "But since you've taken care of me all weekend, I figured I owe you one."  
  
"Well after last night's little dance party, I think we are even," Scully said trying to blush. Dancing with Mulder had definately entered the previous night as a contender for one of the best night's of Scully's life. Alright so maybe she was overglorifying the entire thing but the way he had been holding her in his arms...Scully was positive that there was no where in the world she wanted to go back to more.  
  
Suddenly her thoughts were interupted by Mulder's hand gently taking the cup of coffee out of her hand.   
  
"Back asleep already?" he smiled at how peaceful she looked.  
  
"I'm not sleeping," Scully said realizing that she had sunk back into her pillow and closed her eyes at some point. "Besides you kept me up half the night."  
  
"Yeah well," Mulder's sarcastic retort was interupted however by the ringing of Scully's cell phone.  
  
Sitting up once again, Scully reached over to her night table and answered her phone.  
  
"Oh hello sir....no it's no bother....yes....yes...." she said into the phone trying not to laugh as Mulder made funny faces while she tried to talk to Skinner. "Well actually sir, Agent Mulder came down with the chicken pox this weekend so I don't think he'd be up to it....ok, I'll be there shortly."  
  
She hung up the phone and raised an eyebrow at Mulder.  
  
"You're so good to me Scully," Mulder said smiling.  
  
"Well its your expense account I'm going in to fix," she replied getting out of bed and shooing him out of the room so she could take a quick shower and change.   
  
About ten minues later Scully emerged from the bedroom to find Mulder folding up the blankets that were haphazardly strewn across her couch.  
  
"You know what this means Mulder?" she said grabbing her coat out of the closet. "Now you do owe me."  
  
"Name your price Red," Mulder said trying to imitate John Wayne.  
  
"Dinner and a movie next weekend," Scully said halfway out the door.  
  
"Agent Scully are you asking me on a date?" Mulder said playfully.   
  
"Nope, I just making sure that I never have to fix your paperwork on a weekend again," Scully said winking as she shut the door.  
  
Dumbfounded, Mulder picked up the phone. "Langly turn off the tape," he said. "Can you create a virus that will create flaws in my paperwork on a regular basis?"  
  
**Stay Tuned for Chapter 11** 


End file.
